A dramatic overtime win for Joondalup Wolves has heated up the top spot race in the NBL1 West Women’s Division while the Perry Lakes Hawks ended the winning run of the East Perth Eagles on an eventful evening.
It turned out a fascinating Saturday night in Round 16 with the Lady Wolfpack overcoming the Tigers in overtime with top spot up for grabs while the Cockburn Cougars, Hawks and Perth Redbacks all scored important wins in the race to the playoffs.
Round 16 in the NBL1 West Women’s Division got underway back on Thursday night with the Rockingham Flames beating the Warwick Senators 103-86.
There were then three more matches on Friday night with the Perth Redbacks beating the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 81-62 while the East Perth Eagles defeated the Rockingham Flames 82-69 and the Mandurah Magic hammered the Lakeside Lightning 96-56.
Top spot in the NBL1 West Women’s Division went on the line at HBF Arena and the game certainly lived up to all expectations. With Willetton up 73-70, Joondalup had the last possession and was veteran sharpshooter Rebecca Benson who banked in the three to tie scores up.
That forced overtime and the Lady Wolfpack went on to beat the Tigers 85-79 with Kayla Steindl delivering 22 points and 16 rebounds, Chelsea Belcher 16 points, Benson 14 and Nes’eya Williams 13.
Alex Sharp had a monster game for the Tigers with 18 points, 16 rebounds and five assists.
The Cockburn Cougars then went a long way to locking in their place in the playoffs with an 83-66 victory against the Lakeside Lightning at Wally Hagan Stadium.
Taylah Simmons had a brilliant triple-double to show the way for the Cougars made up of 22 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds while Ash Isenbarger had 17 points for a Lakeside team still missing Mikayla Pirini and Emma Clarke.
The Perry Lakes Hawks ended the remarkable winning run of the East Perth Eagles and did it in emphatic fashion at Bendat Basketball Centre with the 83-54 victory to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Megan McKay had a dominant night for the Lady Hawks with 14 points and 17 rebounds while Mia Satie added 19 points and five assists. Mary Goulding finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds for East Perth as their seven-game winning run came to an end.
The Perth Redbacks then made it two wins over the Kalamunda Eastern Suns inside 24 hours with a hard earned 69-63 victory at Ray Owen Sports Centre.
Makailah Dyer put up 26 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and four steals for the Redbacks who were minus captain Jess Jakens while Sam Roscoe put up 20 points and three blocks for the Eastern Suns who have now lost five straight to fall from the playoff hunt.
NBL1 WEST – 2021 WOMEN’S SEASON
ROUND 16 – SATURDAY NIGHT
JOONDALUP WOLVES 85 defeated WILLETTON TIGERS 79
The top two teams locked horns at HBF Arena on Saturday evening and it ended up being an overtime cracker that the Joondalup Wolves prevailed in eventually over the Willetton Tigers.
Both teams were making their only appearances of Round 16 in the NBL1 West Women’s Division as the Tigers travelled up to Joondalup to take on the Wolfpack with both teams in the top two positions and on winning streaks.
The game turned out to be a tremendous contest and if it just happens to end up being a Grand Final preview, then it certainly whet the appetite for what lies ahead potentially between these two teams.
On their home floor, the Lady Wolfpack got off to a strong start putting up 26 to just 17 from the Tigers in the opening quarter to open a handy lead.
But Willetton got locked in defensively in the second quarter holding the Wolves to just the 11 points while scoring 19 themselves and fittingly, that meant scores were tight with the home team up by just a point at half-time.
The Tigers were able to keep that slight momentum going through the third quarter with another 19 points to 14 to take a 55-51 edge into the fourth quarter.
Five points to start the fourth period to Alex Sharp then put Willetton up nine and they were threatening to open up a match-winning advantage. Sam Lubcke then put them up 11 and it was up to Joondalup to respond.
That response started courtesy of Kayla Steindl who converted a three-point play and then hit a three ball. Nes’eya Williams then hit a triple as well and suddenly the Lady Wolfpack were back within two points with five minutes on the clock.
Emma Gandini and Williams then traded three-pointers to keep Willetton up two with four minutes left.
Gandini made another bucket and a free-throw to Hayley Winter put the Tigers up 68-63 with a minute to go and again it was up to the Wolves to find an answer to keep themselves alive.
Eventually after Winter continued to make her free-throws, the Tigers led 73-70 and the Wolfpack had one last possession to try and force overtime.
It was 229-game veteran Benson who delivered for the Wolves. Georgia Denehey got her the ball and jumping off her left foot, she threw up a prayer and banked it in for three to make it 73-73 and force the game into overtime.
And in the extra period, it was all Joondalup outscoring Willetton 12 points to six to come away with the 85-79 to give them four straight wins at 12-3 while ending the seven-game winning run of the Tigers who are now 12-3 as well.
It was a high-pressure game illustrated by the combined 46 turnovers between them but the Wolves just ended up shooting a little better at 38.0 per cent from the field and 34.5 per cent from deep while the Tigers went at 34.2 from the floor and 23.5 from beyond the arc.
Kayla Steindl finished the evening with 22 points, six rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots for Joondalup while Chelsea Belcher added 16 points, three rebounds and three steals.
Rebecca Benson ended the night with 14 points and nine rebounds with Nes’eya Williams contributing 13 points, eight boards, three assists and three seals, and Georgia Denehey eight points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Alex Sharp finished with 18 points, 16 rebounds and five assist for the Tigers while Sam Lubcke delivered 16 points and three assists, Hayley Winter 15 points, five rebounds, and four assists.
Desiree Kelley also had 14 point, 11 rebounds and four steals for Willetton and Emma Gandini 10 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals.
COCKBURN COUGARS 83 defeated LAKESIDE LIGHTNING 66
The Cockburn Cougars went a long way to locking in a playoff spot this NBL1 West season on the back of a 17-point win over a shorthanded Lakeside Lightning.
The local rivals did battle on Saturday night at Wally Hagan Stadium with Lakeside coming off a hefty loss the previous night to the Mandurah Magic by 40 points in the absence of key experienced pair Emma Clarke and Mikayla Pirini.
They were without that WNBL-experienced pair again against the Cougars on Saturday night, and Cockburn was able to take full advantage from the outset opening up with 27 points to 15 in the first quarter.
The Cougars were able to extend that advantage to 47-30 by half-time and it was going to take something remarkable from the Lightning to get back into the contest.
They did fight hard including outscoring the Cougars by seven points in the third quarter, but it wasn’t to be with Cockburn ending up cruising to the 83-66.
The win means the Cougars improve to 8-7 on the season to be closer to locking in a playoff spot while the Lightning have lost three straight now to be losing touch with eighth spot at 5-11.
The triple-double from Taylah Simmons was the highlight of the night for Cockburn as she finished with 22 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds.
Jesni Cooper also put up 18 points for Cockburn while hitting 6/13 from three-point range with Jessie Edwards contributing 17 points and 11 rebounds, Kahlia Morgan eight points, and Molly Matthews eight points and four rebounds.
Ash Isenbarger top-scored with 17 points for Lakeside while Savannah Coleman finished with 10 points and six rebounds, Kyrah Daniels 10 points and three assists, and Jaime Skeggs eight points and two assists.
PERRY LAKES HAWKS 83 defeated EAST PERTH EAGLES 54
The East Perth Eagles were the hottest team in the league as they headed to Bendat Basketball Centre on Saturday, but the Perry Lakes Hawks swiftly put an end to that.
There have been some ugly scorelines in recent years with dominant wins for Perry Lakes over East Perth, but this Lady Eagles team of 2021 under the coaching of Blake Srdarev have been in remarkable form.
They won a seventh straight match beating the Rockingham Flames on Friday night so really there was nothing to suggest what was about to come on Saturday evening for them against the Hawks at Bendat Basketball Centre, at least in terms of the margin.
Perry Lakes got off to an impressive start knowing stringing wins together now is going to be the only way they reach the playoffs in this inaugural NBL1 West season.
The Hawks put up 21 points to 14 in the opening quarter and then backed that up with 18 to 16 in the second, but the game was still well and truly up for grabs by half-time with Perry Lakes only leading East Perth 39-30.
It was a remarkably dominant Perry Lakes performance in the second half, especially in the fourth quarter with the Hawks scoring 26 points and holding the Eagles to nine to end up winning 83-54.
The 29-point margin was certainly a surprise as Perry Lakes snapped a two-game losing slide to improve to a 6-9 record while the seven-game winning run of the Eagles came to an end and they end Round 16 of the season with an 11-5 record.
With their size advantage they have on most opponents, the Hawks again dominated the boards with 51 rebounds to 35 from the Eagles but they were also able to force East Perth into 24 turnovers, and limiting them to shooting 33 per cent from the field and 24 per cent from three.
Mia Satie was terrific in the back court for Perry Lakes putting up 19 points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals including knocking down 2/4 from three-point range.
Satie’s back court partner Millie McCarthy was tremendous as well for the Lady Hawks with 14 points and five assists. Morgan Ballantyne also had eight points, seven assists and five rebounds.
Then up front, Megan McKay put up 14 points, 17 rebounds, five assists and two steals, Sarah Donovan 10 points, six boards and two steals, Nat Burton nine points and three rebounds, and Maddie Dennis five points and six boards.
The Eagles did miss the shooting threat of Tahlia Fejo but Mary Goulding did have another 18 points, 12 rebounds, three steals and two assists.
BJ Moyes also had seven points and four assists, Eryn Fisher seven points and 10 rebounds, Bree Fisher seven points and two boards, and Sarah Penese seven points and two rebounds.
KALAMUNDA EASTERN SUNS 63 lost to PERTH REDBACKS 69
The Perth Redbacks took care of business for the second time inside 24 hours against the Kalamunda Eastern Suns, but they didn’t have it all their own way on Saturday at Ray Owen Sports Centre.
The two teams had their opening battle of the weekend on Friday night at Belmont Oasis with the Redbacks coming away with the 81-62 victory.
They had a return encounter on Saturday night at Ray Owen Sports Centre and on their home floor, the Eastern Suns got off to a good start and took a 20-19 lead into quarter-time over the Redbacks.
The Redbacks were able to work their way on top throughout the second quarter, though, with 21 points to 14 to head into the half-time interval leading 39-34.
Kalamunda wasn’t in the mood to lie down, though, even if they had fallen out of the playoff race on the back of having lost their previous four straight matches.
On their home floor, the Eastern Suns delivered an impressive third quarter to make a real game of it with scores all tied by three quarter-time.
A three-point play from Makailah Dyer to start the fourth quarter had the Redbacks back on top by three and the visitors began to pull away again on the back of four successive Maddie Allen points shortly after.
When Raya Thompson knocked down a three ball with just under three minutes to go, it proved the final dagger with the Redbacks up 11 and then going on to win 69-63 after a hard fought battle.
The win is a third straight for the Redbacks as they attempt to finish as high up in the top eight as possible with two rounds, and three matches, of the regular season remaining.
They were without captain Jess Jakens on Saturday night with Makailah Dyer still producing a standout performance once more made up of 26 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and four steals.
Maddie Allen did well for Perth too with 16 points, five rebounds, five assists and four blocked shots while Raya Thompson delivered 10 points and four rebounds, and Shenae Hartree eight points and nine boards.
Sam Roscoe put up 20 points, four rebounds, three blocks and two steals in a strong showing for the Eastern Suns with Mia Jacobs continuing her breakout season with 14 points and eight rebounds including 3/5 shooting from beyond the arc.
Rebecca Motroni also finished with 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists, and Jewel Williams 12 points and seven assists.